In this thesis I examine clustering evaluation, with a subfocus on text clusterings specifically. The principal work of this thesis is the development, analysis, and testing of a new internal clustering quality measure called informativeness. I begin by reviewing clustering in general. I then review current clustering quality measures, accompanying this with an in-depth discussion of many of the important properties one needs to understand about such measures. This is followed by extensive document clustering experiments that show problems with standard clustering evaluation practices. I then develop informativeness, my new internal clustering quality measure for estimating the clarity of clusterings. I show that informativeness, which uses classification accuracy as a proxy for human assessment of clusterings, is both theoretically sensible and works empirically. I present a generalization of informativeness that leverages external clustering quality measures. I also show its use in a realistic application: email spam filtering. I show that informativeness can be used to select clusterings which lead to superior spam filters when few true labels are available. I conclude this thesis with a discussion of clustering evaluation in general, informativeness, and the directions I believe clustering evaluation research should take in the future.

In this work, the quality of information in the Internet and intranet will be dealt with. What characterises information of quality cannot be decided ones and for all, as it always will be in relation to the user's needs. The factors, however, that can be thought of when evaluating information can be outlined. These factors will be discussed and compared to the methods that are used by web editors to secure quality of the information in the intranet. The methods used to investigate the paper's thesis, are the study of literature and three interviews are conducted. The study of literature is meant to reveal the aspects that can be considered when evaluating information published via the Internet and intranet. The interviews are conducted to see how web editors secure that the information in the intranet is of high quality. The study has revealed that the following aspects can be considered when evaluating information in the Internet and intranet. These aspects are the purpose of the information; the information's authority; the accuracy, maintenance, and currency of the information and last, the accessibility and presentation of the information.

Abstract - Through our work we validated the symmetry and leniency heuristics used to evaluate content which has been procedurally generated in a mixed-initiative tool called the Evolutionary Dungeon Designer (EDD). This was done by analyzing and comparing how said heuristics differs from what a human player perceives the metrics to be. A user study was performed for which we developed a game for human testers to try and experience different dungeons, in order to collect the data needed for making the necessary comparisons. We propose potential improvements to the metrics that are intended to represent difficulty and aesthetics used in EDD so that they could better match their intended goals. In general, the testers found the maps to be close to the expected difficulty but there was a big discrepancy in the symmetry metric and how aesthetic they found the maps. We further discuss how the research performed by us could be expanded upon for the purpose of making further improvements to automatic evaluation heuristics, by either making similar research on games of different genres or on games with different game mechanics.

Thermal efficiency of Precast Concrete Sandwich Panel Walls has become a major topic when discussing the building envelope in academia. At Utah State University, research is being done to evaluate the structural and thermal efficiency of fiber reinforced polymer connectors being used today. In evaluating several different proprietary fiber reinforced polymer systems, researchers plan to develop design procedures to help engineers accurately determine minimum design requirements when using fiber reinforced polymer connectors. This largely requires a determination of the degree of composite action incurred by each system. Testing is performed by constructing small scale specimens (3 ft. by 4 ft., 0.91 m by 1.22 m). Each specimen contains one of the fiber reinforced polymer connecting systems. By constructing a five-wythe, two wall specimen, direct shear can be applied to the connectors using a push-off shear test method. By performing this test it can be determined to what degree the panel is acting compositely. Once the degree of composite action is determined, correlation can be made between design and degree of composite action. Economizing and simplifying this procedure is key to further implementation of precast concrete sandwich panel walls in all areas of our building infrastructure.

Because the original reliability study using the Self-Report Behavioral Measure for Evaluating Therapeutic Outcomes (Behavioral Checklist) used college students as subjects, and since the target population for use with this instrument is a client population, there is a need for a reliability study using clients in treatment as subjects. The objective of this study was to assess the reliability of the Behavioral Checklist using a client population. The secondary objective was to revise the Behavioral Checklist, if necessary, in order to meet the standards of reliability for testing instruments. Three reliability measures were implemented in order to evaluate and revise the Behavioral Checklist. An item analysis and split-half reliability analysis were conducted after one administration of Elliott's Behavioral Checklist using a client population in treatment at a mental health center. Since these methods are measures of internal consistency, the statistical analyses were used to revise the instrument, eliminating unnecessary items and simplifying instructions based on the statistical analysis. The revised Behavioral Checklist was then administered to two subject populations (clients at a mental health center and people on probation) using the test-retest model for evaluating reliability. The test-retest analysis resulted in correlations of .889 for the subject population drawn from a mental health center and .899 for t he subject population drawn from probationers. The current study did, in fact, improve the Behavioral Checklist, making it easy to administer, and demonstrated that it is a reliable instrument for use with a client population.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate The Financial Checkup program. The program consisted of a booklet called The Financial Checkup and a 1-1 y, hour workshop explaining the booklet. The booklet helps individuals evaluate their financial situation on an annual basis. It includes a net worth statement, an income and expense statement, financial ratios, a revolving savings worksheet, a retirement worksheet, a life insurance worksheet, a financial goals worksheet, and a budget worksheet. The Financial Checkup covers the topics of debt, savings, retirement, taxes, insurance, goals, and budgeting. The stages of change model developed by James Prochaska was used to evaluate the financial situation of the participants. The model includes five stages that individuals advance through as they make behavior changes. The stages are precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. The Financial Checkup helped individuals progress along the stages of change. Twenty-nine percent of the individuals who participated in The Financial Checkup program advanced at least one stage compared to 2 1% of the control group. Seven percent of the treatment group regressed one or more stages compared to 17% of the control group. The Financial Checkup program was especially effective in helping individuals complete and understand a net worth statement and an income and expense statement. On the posttest, all participants in the treatment group indicated that they knew what a net worth statement and an income and expense statement were. On the 3-month follow-up survey, 50% of the treatment group had completed a net worth statement and 63% had completed an income and expense statement. The Financial Checkup program was most effective for helping participants advance along the stages of change and improve their financial situation in the area of debt. Of the treatment group participants, 51% indicated an improvement in stages for their debt situation. Other areas of substantial improvement were the areas of savings, taxes, homeowners insurance, retirement, and auto insurance.

This study evaluated the outcomes of a series of health-screening clinics specifically developed to target the homeless population. Problems screened during this study were selected because of the high prevalence of each among the homeless and included hypertension, diabetes, anemia, tuberculosis, and foot problems. Screening clinics were developed and implemented by faculty and senior baccalaureate nursing students. Data were collected with a screening form that focused on risk factors and individual health history and by chart review. Two hundred fourteen clients were screened in 17 different screening clinics. Participation in the clinics ranged from 33 clients at a hypertension-screening clinic to 0 at one of the foot-screening clinics. Abnormalities were identified in 22% of the clients who were screened, and documentation was found that 80% of those with abnormalities received follow-up. Overall, the screening clinics appear to be an effective approach to disease prevention in a homeless population.

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Diploma thesis is dedicated to purchasing strategy evaluation in ABB Brno and its optimization. Thesis analyses current status of the firm and processes, which relates to purchasing this commodity. The concept of solving includes making a new evaluation method of supplier’s non-financial data and its influence to a final evaluation of suppliers. This method is also used for real case of purchasing this commodity. Last part also defines requirements of realization and benefits for this firm.

Many Emerging Church preachers claim the Bible is not viewed the same way it once was. Consequently ministers need to rethink some aspects of how they go about preaching and communicating. Emerging Church preachers argue that Christianity must develop a new way of describing, defining, and defending the gospel. The aim of this study is to answer the question: To what extent, if any, is preaching in the Emerging Church different than that of traditional expositional preaching in the Evangelical Church and how does one compare with the other as far as success in addressing the needs of post-modern Christians? Chapter one gives a brief introduction of the Emerging Church movement by briefly defining and describing the diverse movement (EC movement) that arose within Protestant Christianity due to a reaction to modernism in Western Christianity. Chapter two provides a literature study where definitions of both preaching styles are considered – emerging style(s) and expository preaching. Included with the emerging preaching style(s) and expositional preaching will be characteristics comprising these styles. Chapter three (methodology) consists of charts, definitions, and descriptions comparing both the modern and postmodern movement through their characteristics and values, purposes for the movements, and homiletics of the movements.Chapter four, "Findings From of The Comparisons From The Two Models of Preaching" consists of the results found from the research. Chapter five, "Conclusions Of Preaching For The Two Models Of Preaching" will consist of a critical analysis of the homiletics in both the Emerging Church and the Traditional Evangelical Church. Chapter six, "Expository Preaching In the Traditional Evangelical Church For Post-Modern Christians" will offer a model as a proposal on how to effectively preach to the postmodern congregation. Chapter seven contains concluding remarks concerning the effectiveness of the traditional expository preaching compared with the emerging dialogical/storytelling preaching for postmodern Christians. / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)